Candy

I have a terrible sweet tooth. While I do not discriminate against chocolate and cake (although I love those too), I usually crave “candy.” To me, candy refers to gummy bears, sour patch kids, and basically sour gummy anything. I never drank soda or ate cookies and junk before starting paleo, but I do love candy.

To counter this, I’ve busted out my good old dehydrator. I’ve dehydrated just about everything, but at the moment, I love dried oranges and bananas.

dried oranges = orange marmelade. not as sexy as the banana description but there’s really no other way to say it.

strategyCut your bananas and lay them in your dehydrator. The thinner the slices, the more crispy they’ll be, the thicker the slices, the chewier they’ll be. For the oranges, a similar principle applies. I like that the thicker oranges are slightly juicy while the thinner slices are more caramelized like marmalade. You can peel your oranges later or before. I’ve left the skin on before in hopes of using it for tea down the road, but for easy eating peel them. If you are using small tangerines with a thin skin, leave the peel on — they are AMAZING!

Temp: 135 degrees
Time: AT least 8 hrs. I accidentally left mine in there for 16 hrs and they were perfect. Check it regularly and see what you like. The less time the more moisture — obviously. But if you can wait longer, they begin to turn into “candy.”

Oranges when they were just oranges 😉

Note of Caution: These are addicting treats and since the paleo diet recommends you minimize fruit consider them as such a “treat.” I usually plow through a whole tray (2 bananas plus an orange) the first day I make them since my craving is in high gear, but I am not a good role model.